


Protocol: Lullaby

by Scotty6



Category: Marvel Cinematic Universe, Spider-Man: Homecoming (2017), The Avengers (Marvel Movies)
Genre: Nightmares, Post-Traumatic Stress Disorder - PTSD, Unhealthy Coping Mechanisms
Language: English
Status: In-Progress
Published: 2018-04-30
Updated: 2018-11-10
Packaged: 2019-04-30 03:33:33
Rating: Teen And Up Audiences
Warnings: Graphic Depictions Of Violence
Chapters: 4
Words: 2,377
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/14487930
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/Scotty6/pseuds/Scotty6
Summary: Instead of rejecting Tony's offer to become an Avenger at the end of Homecoming, Peter accepts before he's ready. The team helps him through all the shit he goes through.





	1. Chapter 1

Peter woke with a start. His breathing was heavy and tears were streaming down his face. He gasped with relief and rolled over to shove his face into his pillow. This was the second nightmare tonight, making his eyes heavy and irritated. He could still feel the burning heat on his skin and the smoke in his lungs. He could still feel the Earth-shattering fear he felt when he was trapped beneath the rubble.

When he finally caught his breath and began to calm down, he rolled back over and wiped the tears from his cheeks. He was sweating profusely and the feeling of the damp sheets on his bare skin made him cringe. He hated feeling so weak and laying in your own nightmare juice is like top tier weak. The people he was living with in the compound weren’t having these kinds of nightmares. Well, not that he knew of anyway. They went on dangerous missions all the time and still managed to look rested in the morning.

He reached over to his nightstand to check his phone and discovered that it was almost six in the morning. Steve, Bucky, and Sam were usually up by six and Peter wanted the company. He changed his sheets and hopped in the shower. The thing Peter liked the most about the compound was his shower. That was mostly because it wasn’t extremely small and filled with May’s millions of different kinds of body soap. 

When he got out, he got dressed and wrapped the blanket from his bed around his shoulders before making his way to the living room. He found them talking quietly to one another, sitting there on the expensive, odd-looking furniture that Tony insisted on having in the compound. Bucky’s eyes landed on him first before Steve’s followed.

“Good morning, Peter.” Steve was cheery for six in the morning but Peter was glad to be on the receiving end of it. He needed it. Peter tucked his blanket under his arm and gave a little half solute.

“Mornin’ Cap’n. Sam. Bucky.” The shower didn’t wake him up, it just made him more sleepy.

“Petey, you look like hell man,” Sam commented. He seemed worried and that’s how Peter sensed that Sam would be giving him a proper talking to later. He would use his VA voice and everything. “Thanks.” He felt like hell so it was appropriate to say that he was looking like it too. He sat down on the couch next to Bucky and listened while they talked. 

Knowing that all of them were around made Peter feel safe. Before he could realize, his eyes were drooping shut as their soft, deep voices practically lulled him to sleep. Peter woke up a little while later on the couch. Wanda was making eggs.


	2. Chapter 2

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> Peter visits Tony in the lab. Tony creates a protocol.

Peter sat on the foot of his bed with his head in his hands. He flipped his phone over in his hand and the digital clock read that it was nearing three in the morning. Didn’t anyone tell PTSD that teens need nine and a half hours of sleep a night? The latest nightmare was about their last mission. Some hydra goon was holding a knife to Nat’s neck and instead of dislocating his shoulder and busting the shit out his knee like she did in real life, she looked at Peter in his eyes before he slit her throat. It was one of those dreams where you’re running and running but you don’t move and Peter was trying so hard to get to her but he went nowhere. He could just watch.

“Jarvis?” Peter whispered. He didn’t want to wake anyone even though these walls were pretty thick. Living in a tiny apartment in Queens for most of his life, Peter wasn’t quite used to it yet. 

“Hello, Mr. Parker. It is very late.” Jarvis’ voice came in at a whisper to match Peter’s tone, even if it wasn’t exactly necessary. 

“Yeah, yeah. I know that Jarvis.” He rubbed at his face with his hands. At this point, Peter was gonna rub it raw if he didn’t quit his little nervous habit. There was a long pause.

“Do you need something, sir?”

“Oh, um. Yeah. Yeah, sorry.” Peter felt embarrassed but asked anyway. “Is anyone awake right now? I kinda need some company.”

“Mr. Stark is awake, sir. He’s down in his lab. Shall I ask him if you may join him?”

“Please.”

///

“Mr. Stark?”

Tony was working on a software upgrade for Bucky’s new arm and was halfway through his third cup of coffee that night. He tried to stop staying awake 24/7, but it wasn’t working out that well. Apparently, humans need sleep to function, but Tony pretends that that’s just a myth.

“Yes, Jarvis.” Usually, this is when Jarvis recommends that Tony should go to bed but the snarky tone wasn’t there.

“Mr. Parker is awake and wants to know if he can sit in here with you. He told me to tell you that he’s promised to be quiet.” Tony checked the time. He had no clue as to why that kid was up in the middle of the night but he figured he better not judge.

“Yeah sure, Jarvis. Send him in.” Moments later, Peter walked into the lab. He had a pullover hoodie and pajama pants on and the kid looked exhausted. Without a word, he pulled up a stool to Tony’s workbench so they were sitting side by side, but not close enough that if either of them were to reach out, they’d touch. 

He was so quiet that Tony had forgotten about him for a little while. Peter was never quiet. The kid has been kinda weird lately, but what fifteen-year-old boy wasn’t weird? He worked in silence for about an hour; Peter watched and followed along with what he understood.

“So what are you doing up, Pete?” Tony finally asked. Peter was almost asleep; his head was resting on his arms on the workbench. “And you’re not talking. You’re always talking.” It could be taken as an insult, but so could most everything else that comes out of Tony’s mouth.

“It’s nothing; I just couldn’t sleep. I feel a little better so I’m just gonna try to go to sleep again.” Peter stood and stretched a little before making his way to the elevator. “Goodnight, Mr. Stark. Thanks for letting me hang out for a bit.” When the elevator doors closed, Tony wasted no time asking Jarvis what the kid’s deal was. 

“Mr. Parker has been having several nightmares a night for the past few weeks, sir. Sometimes if someone else is awake in the compound he’ll visit them.” 

“Does he get panic attacks?” Tony felt disappointed in himself. He thought the kid was ready but apparently not. Taking him off the team and sending him home would only make him feel worse; useless. 

“Only occasionally, sir.” He squeezed his temples with his fingers and tried to think. 

“Jarvis, if his heart rate rises above 130 when he’s sleeping, I want you to wake him up before he sweats himself a puddle. If he wakes up from a nightmare and he wants to see someone then send him to me, I’ll probably be up unless it’s asscrack o’clock in the morning, then send him to Rogers. If he’s having a panic attack, I want you to repeat those old data entries from Stark Industries computing systems to get him to calm down. If he asks for me, just tell me that he’s coming; you don’t need to ask.”

“Yes, sir. Would you like to name this protocol?” Tony was already walking towards the elevator to finally go to bed. 

“Lullaby. Maybe we can get one of those spinny things for babies to put over his head too, he’d like that. And I want you to schedule some therapy hours for him with Sam for this week. If he doesn’t want to talk to Sam get him one of those shield issued therapists.”

“Is that all for tonight, Mr. Stark?”

“Have someone run out and get the kid some toaster strudels or whatever the hell fifteen-year-olds like for breakfast. These supersoldiers all like raw eggs and quinoa.”

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> im using this story to get over my infinity war trauma so excuse the hell outta me


	3. Chapter 3

Peter slept through the rest of the night okay. He made his way to the kitchen and prepared himself for whatever gross healthy food Steve was sure to be making. He never complained, but if he didn’t his hands on a bowl of some kind of sugary cereal soon he was gonna start having withdrawals. He walked into the kitchen to find one of the compound assistants wrist deep in the freezer and a few of grocery bags on the table. 

“Good morning, Mr. Parker.” She seemed cheery and real friendly. “Mr. Stark had me get you a bunch of breakfast food. I hope this is okay.” She opened one of the bags and pulled out toaster strudels, Eggo waffles, and a box of motherfucking Reese’s Puffs. Peter honestly could have cried on the spot. 

“Oh, dear god. Thank you so much; holy crap. Hey, um, what’s your name?” He felt bad that she got all this awesome stuff and he didn’t even know her. Peter grabbed the box off of the table and made a bowl while she unpacked the bags and started to put it all away.

“I’m Hannah. If you need anything, I’ll probably be the one to get it.” 

“Thank you, Hannah.” It would’ve sounded more heartfelt if his mouth wasn’t full of cereal. Bucky walked into the kitchen when Peter was already refilling his bowl.

“What’s all this?” The man looked as if he’s never seen a Pop-Tart before, which he probably hasn’t.

“ _Good_ breakfast food that Tony had Hannah pick up from the store.” Peter got up to grab Bucky a bowl from the cabinet and made one for him. “Here try it.” 

“Is this like cheerios? I know what cheerios are, these just look different.”

“Yeah, just waaayyy better.” Bucky sat next to Peter on the island and started to eat.

“Oh my god, why don’t we eat this every morning? If Steve tries to feed me an avocado after this I’m gonna lose my mind. I don’t think I can go back.”

“I wouldn’t expect you to, brother.” They finished their breakfast in silence. 

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Just a nice cute lil chapter about a super soldier and an arachnid eatin some cereal together. Hannah is a nice lady. Also please keep the comments coming because I love hearing what yall have to say about this. The next chapter might come on Monday.


	4. Chapter 4

Ben was shot and killed in the crossfire of a convenience store robbery when Peter was thirteen years old. May was distraught and isolated herself for months. A lot of times Peter had to beg her to eat something; he couldn’t lose them both. Without Ben’s income, Peter and May had to start working and she would come home after working thirteen hour days, tired as all hell, but couldn’t get herself to sleep. Peter would wake up for school in the morning and see May sitting on the couch just staring at nothing. He wonders if his sleeplessness is something like that. 

Peter sat and stared at his bedroom door. It was half past one in the morning. It wasn’t another nightmare, he just couldn’t get himself to sleep. He spent the whole day doing nothing but lounging around the compound. There was no new tech for him to try out, there was no new mission, nothing. He felt all of that nothingness start to find its way inside of him and he knew he had to snap himself out of it.

“Hey, Jarvis.” Even now, Peter still whispered. 

“Hello, Mr. Parker.”

“Is there someone awake that I can hang out with?” He felt terrible for asking. 

“Mr. Stark is awake.” Jarvis was readying to alert Mr. Stark that Peter was on his way when he interjected.

“No, I already bothered him this week.” He rubbed his face with his hands. “Is anyone else up?”

“Sergeant Barnes is in the training room. Shall I ask if he wants a sparring partner?” Perfect. 

/

“Sergeant Barnes.”

“Ceiling voice.” Bucky was in the boxing ring in the training room. Tonight was really bad for him. He was getting random fever pains the longer he sat still. His metal arm felt tight and heavy, pulling on his spine. He slipped out of his room, avoiding Steve, knowing that he was gonna be urging him to get back in bed. 

“Mr. Parker is up and wishes to join you. He is a very good pad holder.” Bucky considered this for a second. He kinda wanted to be alone but it was two in the morning and he was slightly curious as to why Peter was up. He’d seen him lately. He was tired and on edge. The same way Bucky always felt, but he was a master at disguising his emotions.

“Sure, Jarvis.”

Moments later, Peter entered the gym wearing basketball shorts and one of his many shirts that had a math pun on it. He tried to climb into the ring but Bucky stopped him. 

“You didn’t warm up.” Bucky looked down on him menacingly but it didn’t seem to have an effect on Peter.

“I’m Spiderman, I’m always warm,” Peter complained. Bucky’s stare deepened and Peter groaned before starting to jog the perimeter of the gym. Bucky, of course, knew that Peter didn’t actually need to warm up; he’s Spiderman, he’s always warm. The supersoldier knew that the kid just needed to get worn out. Not unlike a puppy. 

After about three miles, Bucky made him do an unspeakable amount of push-ups and burpees. Then, he made Peter do push-ups on the ceiling because Bucky forgot he could do that and he wanted to see. Can’t really do a burpee on the ceiling though. After that, mountain climbers and after that, it was almost four in the morning. Peter was sweating profusely and laying on the floor of the gym trying to get his breath back. Bucky looked at him from above and gave Peter what appeared to be his second real smile.

“Okay, you ready to box now?” Peter gave him an incredulous look and firmly stuck his middle finger up at him.

“I’m going to bed.” Peter hauled himself up and walked like a wounded animal towards the door.

“Goodnight, Peter! Sweet dreams!” Bucky yelled out as the door slammed shut.


End file.
